Before the walls went on was the best time to get this camper built out the way I wanted. This post will highlight the features I chose to include but is not meant to be a step-by-step guide. There are tons of resources with more detail about fresh water systems, electrical systems… most written by people more knowledgeable than me. Feel free to contact me with specific questions!
Kitchen / Galley
The rear of this camper will open up to reveal the kitchen/galley area. The main component is a 4′ slide-out kitchen that was built using 1/2″ plywood, wood glue and pocket screw joinery. It slides on a pair of 48″ locking drawer slides with a 500lb capacity (I believe the actual capacity of these longer slides is a bit less but search for 500lb slides to find yours).
The kitchen has a work surface, a spot for my camp stove, and storage areas for pots/pans, plates/bowls/cups, and silverware/utensils.
Above the main kitchen is a 2′ long slide-out pantry built with the same methods. It has a front access compartment for everyday items like salt/pepper, oil, spices, etc. It slides out on 24″ RV slides that are designed to keep drawers closed while in motion, so a slight pull is all it takes to open the pantry. Dry storage is revealed inside for food that does not need to be chilled.
Next to the kitchen and pantry I chose to just set my cooler in the space. The original plan was to build a slide for the cooler as well but once I got to this step I felt it was unnecessary as it is really easy to just unlatch the cooler and grab whatever I need from inside.
Propane
I decided to keep the propane system super simple. I mounted a small 5lb bottle on the rear fender, I can just hook up the camp stove (or anything else) when I need it.
Water
The water system is mounted so that it is generally out of the way but still easy to get to for service.
The pump delivers to a quick-connect spray port mounted on the side of the trailer. From here I can connect the hose to the sink in the side table, hook up a basic sprayer for washing off feet or gear, etc.
The water source is not a built in RV-style tank, instead I chose to just draw water from inexpensive blue 6 gallon jugs. This setup is easier to maintain and keep clean, and I can expand the water capacity if needed by simply bringing more water containers. For a longer adventure it would be easy to add a filtration/purification system to have more options for a water source as well.
Electrical
The electrical system was kept pretty simple as well but with some room for expansion and flexibility in the future. This was originally designed around a 100ah AGM battery and a 100W solar panel but I found a great deal on a brand new 200ah battery locally so I grabbed it instead.
I have an onboard 10A smart charger set up and with the huge battery capacity I chose to skip adding solar for now (although it could be added easily in the future). From the external power center I can simply plug into the wall with an extension cord to charge the battery. There are also 2 marine grade 12v sockets for charging laptops,phones, kids devices, etc.
I made up a couple of simple switch panels with some scrap fiberglass from the TrailTop parts. There is switchable power to the water pump, as well as LED’s for the galley area and the cargo area. There also some blue ‘proximity lights’ mounted underneath the trailer for low impact area lighting.